Study Desk

“There will be no poor among you, however, because the Lord is certain to bless you in the land the Lord your God is giving you to possess as an inheritance—

if only you obey the Lord your God and are careful to follow every one of these commands I am giving you today.

When the Lord your God blesses you as he has promised you, you will lend to many nations but not borrow; you will rule many nations, but they will not rule you.

“If there is a poor person among you, one of your brothers within any of your city gates in the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother.

Give to him, and don’t have a stingy heart when you give, and because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you do.

Give generously to him from your flock, your threshing floor, and your winepress. You are to give him whatever the Lord your God has blessed you with.

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the Lord your God redeemed you; that is why I am giving you this command today.

Do not regard it as a hardship when you set him free, because he worked for you six years—worth twice the wages of a hired worker. Then the Lord your God will bless you in everything you do.

“Consecrate to the Lord your God every firstborn male produced by your herd and flock. You are not to put the firstborn of your oxen to work or shear the firstborn of your flock.

Each year you and your family are to eat it before the Lord your God in the place the Lord chooses.

But if there is a defect in the animal, if it is lame or blind or has any serious defect, you may not sacrifice it to the Lord your God.

“Set aside the month of Abib and observe the Passover to the Lord your God, because the Lord your God brought you out of Egypt by night in the month of Abib.

Sacrifice to the Lord your God a Passover animal from the herd or flock in the place where the Lord chooses to have his name dwell.

You are not to sacrifice the Passover animal in any of the towns the Lord your God is giving you.

Sacrifice the Passover animal only at the place where the Lord your God chooses to have his name dwell. Do this in the evening as the sun sets at the same time of day you departed from Egypt.

You are to cook and eat it in the place the Lord your God chooses, and you are to return to your tents in the morning.

Eat unleavened bread for six days. On the seventh day there is to be a solemn assembly to the Lord your God; do not do any work.

You are to celebrate the Festival of Weeks to the Lord your God with a freewill offering that you give in proportion to how the Lord your God has blessed you.

Rejoice before the Lord your God in the place where he chooses to have his name dwell—you, your son and daughter, your male and female slave, the Levite within your city gates, as well as the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow among you.

You are to hold a seven-day festival for the Lord your God in the place he chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, and you will have abundant joy.